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REFLECTIONS.

WOW proper is it that those, who are redeemed to God, should devote themselves to him. He has a claim to this, as he is the first and best of Beings, and were there no extraordinary interpositions of his providence in our favour, to entitle him to it. But there are such we are delivered by him from worse than Egyptian slavery; we are not our own, but bought with a price; therefore obliged to yield ourselves to him. We should yield to God our first and our best; the first of our days, our youth, strength, and vigour, and the best of our faculties; he best deserves them. Parents should devote their children to God; and when their lives are spared, and they are delivered from enemies and dangers, they should make a thankful acknowledgment of his mercy. Let us be engaged by the mercies of God, and especially by the redemption through Jesus Christ, to present our souls, bodies, time, strength, children, wealth, and all we have, to God, as a sacrifice, holy and acceptable in his sight.

2. We see the importance of making the deliverances granted by God to his people, familiar to the minds of the rising generation. It is our business to take every method to form them to wisdom and virtue: this is an important and necessary duty. Children should be early taught scripture stories, and God's dealing with his ancient people. That we have been contemplating is proper to teach them, especially if we proceed to an account of our spiritual redemption and deliverance. Children when they hear or read of any thing they do not understand, or when they attend upon gospel ordinances, as baptism, or the Lord's supper, should ask, What mean you by this service? They should be desirous and willing to learn; parents should put them upon asking questions, be ready to teach them, if they do not inquire; and not hide God's wonders from their children; showing to generations to come the praise of the Lord, and his strength, and the wonderful works that he hath done. Psalm Ixxviii. 1-4.

3. We see the wisdom and goodness of God, in proportioning the trials of his people to their strength. Their spirits were broken with slavery; they were unfit to encounter difficulties, or to face any danger: this is a remarkable instance of divine compassion. Thus he deals with his people to this day. He knows their frame, and has compassion on their infirmities. God is faithful; who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.

4. Let us adore and praise God for the provision he made for guiding and conducting his people through the wilderness. The Lord went before them, and the God of Israel was their rereward, their direction and protection. This was a constant mira

cle. We are not to expect such extraordinary appearances; but if we acknowledge God in all our ways, he will direct our paths. Providence takes care of good men, leads them in the way, in the right way to the city of habitation, though not the nearest. Whatever difficulties he brings us into, he can extricate us out of them. How happy is it to be under the divine guidance, to be hid under the shadow of his wings! This is the privilege of the christian church, and of all its members. See a prophecy of this in Isaiah iv. 5, 6. which plainly refers to gospel times. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle, for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. Happy the church and people who are in such a case, yea, thrice happy the people, whose God is the Lord!

CHAP. XIV.

Contains a remarkable story, often referred to in scripture, by which God made to himself an everlasting name. We have here Pharaoh's pursuit of Israel; their temper; the directions given to Moses; the deliverance of Israel; and the destruction of the Egyptians.

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1 ND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth between Migdol and the sea, over against S Baalzephon before it shall ye encamp by the sea. For. Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They [are] entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in; the mountains are on each side of them, and the sea is before them, so 4 that they cannot escape. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his hosts, I will show my power and justice that the Egyptians may know that I [am] the LORD. And they did so.

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And it was told the king of Egypt, by some of the mixed multitude who returned, that the people fled, were going away with a purpose not to return; and the heart of Pharaoh, and of his servants was turned against the people, and they repented of having let them go, and they said, Why have we 6 done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him :

Instead of going over the Isthmus of Suez, they were commanded to turn to the right, along the edge of the Redsea, into the straits, or passage between the mountains of Hiroth. Into these straits God led them, to avoid war with the Philistin es, ch. xiii. 17. to draw Pha, aph forth upon a supposed advantage gotten, v. 3. and to try the faith of his people,

7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots 8 of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who knew the Israelites were an undisciplined multitude, and therefore he pursued after the children of Israel and the children of Israel went out with an high hand; not like fugitives, but openly and boldly, and in military order, (ch. xiii. 18.) being rescued 9 out of their bondage by the mighty power of God. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses [and] chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them just as they were encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.

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And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid; and no wonder, for they were in a strait between two mountains, the sea before them, and Pharaoh and all his army in their rear; and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD some prayed sincerely, others only cried 11 for fear. Then they began to murmur, And they said unto Moses, as if he had intended their destruction, Because [there were] no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in .the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to 12 carry us forth out of Egypt? [Is] not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For [it had been] better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.*

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And Moses, who bore this with unparalleled meekness, made a most courageous and heroic answer, and said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you today; stand still in solemn admiration, till you see cause to break out into songs of praise; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever, in that manner, namely, alive, armed, 14 and ready to devour you. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace; only forbear murmuring, and God will do all for you.

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And the LORD said unto Moses, probably in answer to some secret petition he had offered to God to pardon the people and appear for them, Wherefore criest thou unto me? this is not a time for prayer, but for active service: Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward toward the Red sea, that 16 lies before them. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it, command it in my name to divide itself and the children of Israel shall go on dry 17 [ground] through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will

* It was strange that they should thus despise their liberty, distrust God's power, and affront Moses. Justly does the Psalmist say, Psalm cvi. 7. Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked himat the sea, oven at the Red sea.'

harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them; and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen, and will make 18 myself known and feared through all the earth. And the Egyptians shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

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And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel in the cloud, now removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them, and thus separated between the Israelites and the Egyptians, giving light to one, and darkness to the 20 other: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to [them,] but it gave light by night [to these:] so that the one came not near the other all the night.

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And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go [back] by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry [land,] and the waters were 22 divided, to the right hand and to the left. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry [ground :] and the waters [were] a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. God could immediately have frozen the sea, and made a way over it; but he chose to do a new and strange thing in the earth.

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And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, [even] all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. It is probable they did not see where they 24 were going.* And it came to pass that in the morning watch, between daybreak and sunrise, that the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians, frowned upon them, through the pillar of fire and of the cloud,t and troubled the host of the Egyptians, (Psa. xviii. 14.) with terrible and prodigious storms of thunder and lightning, (ch. xv. 10. Psa. lxxvii. 18, 19.) 25 whereby they were thrown into great disorder; And, running foul on each other, took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily, perhaps the water began to rise through the sand, and their wheels sunk in: so that the Egyptians, seeing the dreadful case they were in, said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against 26 the Egyptians. They began to be wise too late. And while they were thus in the midst of the sea, all in confusion, and the Israelites on the shore, the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch

It was about midnight, seven days after the full moon, therefore dark; and the cloud between them and the Israelites might prevent their seeing the sea standing as walls on each side of them.

Or the meaning may be, that God turned the bright side of the cloud toward the Egyptians, on which they saw the fire, and, by the light of it, the sea in walls, as it were; on each side of them, and were terrified exceedingly.

out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their 27 horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength, to its ordinary course and motion, when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in 28 the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen [and] all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so 29 much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry [land] in the midst of the sea; and, the waters [were] a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the 31 sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses. They sang his praise, as in the next chapter, but soon forgat his works.

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REFLECTIONS.

ROVIDENCE sometimes leads men into straits, to answer wise purposes; to magnify his power and goodness in their remarkable deliverance; to show the vanity of human helpers, and encourage confidence in him. Let not this seem strange, or discourage any. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.

2. Observe and lament the great degree of hardness to which the heart may be brought. What folly and madness was Pharaoh guilty of! what excuse can be made for such a conduct? What could he intend by it? But he and his people were mad with envy and revenge. One would have thought the last plague should have humbled him; but he grew worse and worse, till utter destruction came upon him. The conduct of the Israelites was equally strange, in doubting and murmuring, after all these glorious appearances for them. It had been righteous in God to cut them off. Bp. HALL observes, 'God's patience was no less a miracle, than their deliverance.'

3. Let us adore the divine power in thus dividing the sea. Whatever objection there may be raised against this miracle, we may justly say with the Psalmist, What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Psal. cxiv. 5. No wonder it divided at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob! We are called upon to behold, and meditate on this great work, Psal. lxvi. 5, 6, 7. Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land; they went through the flood on foot there did we rejoice in him. He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let

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